University of Groningen
Emerging perception
Nordhjem, Barbara
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Publication date:
2017
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Nordhjem, B. (2017). Emerging perception: Tracking the process of visual object recognition.
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
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Acknowledgements
A PhD is often seen as a lonely path. Luckily I have had many
won-derful companions on this journey who made my work possible and a
positive experience. When I think back on the past years, I have a lot
to be grateful for.
Frans Cornelissen, I want to thank you for all your supervision. You have been a mentor in the many
aspects of the scientific world, from psychophysics to project management. My research path has not exactly been straight so I appreciate your openness and support for all the various aspects of my project. During my time in your lab, I have gained a very broad range of skills, for which I am very grateful.
Anneke Hooymans, I want to thank you for your insightful guidance and for keeping track of the
bigger picture throughout my PhD. A combination between local and global processing is not just a central part of my research, but also crucial for a project.
Remco Renken, thank you for bringing scientific enthusiasm to the table, command line, and
whiteboard. For making my life more complicated (in the best possible way) by leading me onto the path of developing new tools and methods. Also thanks for all the beautiful figures, phase-scrambled faces, and confetti plots.
Members of the reading committee, Monique Lorist, Raymond van Ee, and Johan Wagemans, thank you for taking the time to read and evaluate this dissertation and for participating in my defense ceremony.
Several people welcomed me into the academic environment in Groningen when I arrived. Branislava
Ćurčić-Blake, you supervised and encouraged me when I was taking my first steps towards learning
about brain connectivity. Bert Otten, Nathalie Beekman and Jan Klug, I learned so much about art, science, imagination and movement from you.
Other people have been crucial for teaching me how to perform neuroimaging and eye tracking. I especially want to thank Serge Dumoulin, Ben Harvey, Koen Haak and Jan-Bernard Marsman for sharing their expertise.
Of course there is no research without a team of amazing lab-members, although I also think of you as friends, roommates and travel companions! It has been fantastic working with you Funda, Doety,
Mirjan, Sandra, Nicolás, Hinke, Joana, Alessandro, Minke, Elouise, Sang-Yee, Azzurra, Birte, Shereif
and the rest of my vision colleagues at the UMCG. Education, administration and keeping the scanner running has all been crucial, thanks to Diana, Evelyn, Hedwig, Fenna, Ella, Wim (2x), Wouter, Anita and Judith for doing this. Also a big thanks to the students who have been contributing to a more dynamic research environment. Constanza, Hinke, Coen, and Minke, it has been great having you on board and I hope you have learned just as much from your time in the lab as I did from you.
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NextGenVis’ers, I am grateful to have you as my extended vision family. It has been an exciting
period seeing you launch such ambitious projects and have fun at the same time. Nomdo Jansonius,
Kim Westra and the rest of the EGRET(+) team, it was a great opportunity to be part of starting the
project and you have been wonderful colleagues. Colleagues at the York Neuroimaging Centre and
Mezer lab, I really enjoyed staying with you!
Before starting this PhD, several people contributed to me getting into research. Alex and the rest of V2_, being immersed in unstable media and art that challenge the senses inspired me to dive deeper into the study of perception. Semir Zeki, I am grateful for what I learned during my time at University College London and the opportunity to work with neuroimaging. Fiammetta
Ghedini, Shelley Tootell and Sander Nieuwenhuis, I can’t imagine having done my work on bistable
perception without your support.
A few friends have been particularly loyal and loving during the ups and downs of my PhD. I want to thank Pernille for studying ambiguous objects and the strangeness of the world in parallel with me,
Marjolein for continuously inspiring me to turn personal development and fun into life goals, and Zinta for showing me never to give up.
Doing a PhD is not just a matter of hard work, but also about leaving the lab behind and returning with new insights. Writing this, I am thinking about all of you who in some way have contributed to me feeling like a multistable and multidimensional being. For talking till late at night, traveling in space and mind, dancing, planning crazy adventures, listening to music, sharing your passions, caring, and having quiet moments. Our lives are tied together in various ways, and I’m grateful to have had you on this journey.
Finally big thanks to my wonderful partner and family! René, for being stable, caring, and adventurous. Dad, for all the encouragement and patient proofreading. Yiayia, for being such an inspiration. Henning, for being curious and supportive (even though I didn’t become a chemical engineer). Mor, thank you for always being there for me. Growing up with so much love and such good guidance has been the foundation for everything else.
